South Korean media underrates Vietnam's women's volleyball team

South Korea's women's volleyball team is currently ranked 40th worldwide and 7th in Asia, trailing Vietnam by 12 spots on the FIVB leaderboard.

The women's AVC Cup 2026 will be held in the Philippines from June 6 to June 14. The participating women's teams this year include Vietnam, Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Chinese Taipei, and Uzbekistan.

Notably on this list is South Korea — a regular participant in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in previous years. However, since the retirement of the legend Kim Yeon-koung from the national team, South Korea's women's volleyball has struggled to compete, becoming a bottom-tier team and ultimately facing relegation last season after the VNL changed its format..

South Korea's standing has changed significantly compared to about 10 years ago. From a team capable of competing with China and Japan, South Korea has dropped out of the world’s top 30 and now ranks 7th in Asia — behind Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and Chinese Taipei. In their last two encounters with us at the 2023 Asian Championship and the 19th Asian Games, the "Land of the Morning Calm" representatives suffered defeats.

The AVC Cup (formerly AVC Challenge Cup, AVC Nations Cup) is also a tournament dominated by Vietnam, with three consecutive championships, making Trần Thị Thanh Thúy and her teammates the top contenders for the gold medal this year. However, the South Korean news outlet news1 does not share this view.

In a post on its homepage — also displayed on Naver — writer Ahn Young-joon evaluates South Korea and... Indonesia as the two teams with the highest chances to win the AVC Cup 2026.

"Although the tournament brackets have not been announced, both Indonesia — the 2023 runner-up — and South Korea — a team from the VNL — are the strongest candidates, likely to face each other in the semifinals or finals."Ahn wrote.

South Korea is obviously one of the strongest teams in this year's tournament, but the omission of Vietnam's women's volleyball team from the list of championship contenders raises significant questions.